Man receives pair of life sentences for rape on Red Line Metro train Featured

ROCKVILLE – Circuit Court Judge Cheryl A. McCally on Friday sentenced a man who was convicted of raping a woman on a Metro train to life in prison.

John Prentice Hicks, 41, will serve two consecutive life sentences in prison after a jury convicted him for raping a woman on the Red Line and ordering her at knife point to perform fellatio on him in April 2016.

The victim asked McCally to give Hicks the maximum sentence so he would not get out on parole.

“He already had other victims,” she said to McCally. “Let me be his last.”

The victim said she still suffers panic attacks, nightmares and emotional outbursts as result of the rape. She said the scar on her right middle finger where Hicks cut her with a knife will always remind her of the incident on April 12, 2016.

Prosecutor Donna Fenton said the victim's bravery in approaching station managers immediately upon leaving the Metro train, even though Hicks ordered her to remain on the train car, enabled police to arrest him the same day.

Metro Transit Police were able to identify Hicks from the security camera footage in the station, and they used data from Hicks’ SmarTrip card to confirm he was riding the Metro at the time the incident occurred.

Hicks’ attorney Samantha Sandler said her client is not a monster and was struggling with a drug addiction at the time of the rape.